The invention relates to verifying that different representations of a design of a circuit are consistent with each other.
VLSI design involves the transformation of a design specification into a layout that can be fabricated as an integrated circuit on a chip. During the design process, designers synthesize abstractions of the specification with increasing detail until the layout is generated. The most detailed of the non-layout abstractions is the transistor level schematic.
A major task of the design process is verification that the various abstractions are consistent with the specification and with each other. For example, designers verify that the transistor level schematic and the layout are consistent by comparing representations of these abstractions.